


All the love he never got

by TetrodotoxinB



Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Accidents, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Loss of birth family, Panic Attack, Past Child Abuse, Whumptober 2020, alternate prompt, day 29, mac gets all the love he deserves, the Bozers are the best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27283405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TetrodotoxinB/pseuds/TetrodotoxinB
Summary: While living with the Bozers Mac breaks a window.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947493
Comments: 25
Kudos: 69
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	All the love he never got

Mac watches in mute horror as the baseball flies in the entirely wrong direction. It’s like it happens in slow motion. There’s no way to stop what’s going to happen but nevertheless Mac takes a couple of quick steps, like if he’s fast enough, he can still save the window.

Of course when the window shatters, Mac’s hopes are dashed. Beside him, Boze cringes and says, “Ooooh. That’s bad.” But Mac ignores him because this is so much worse than just _bad._

This is something he can’t take back. This isn’t some injury that inspires pity and sympathy like when he fell out of the tree and broke his leg. This is him being irresponsible. All the times that Dad called play “childish,” “immature,” and “a waste of time and resources” run through his head in a loud cacophony. This is what Dad meant. And now Mac is proving him right in every way. 

He freezes to the spot, terrified of what Mr. and Mrs. Bozer are going to. He’s living with them until Harry can move down but that got delayed again and it’s going to be another month. But what if they don’t want him to stay after this? What if they call Maggie, the social worker, and tell her to work something else out? Mac doesn’t want to go to a foster home. 

The back door opens and Mr. Bozer walks out, his face already stony. Mac resists the urge to run and waits until Mr. Bozer has examined the window and made his way to where Mac and Boze wait quietly.

“Dad, I can explain-” Boze starts. Mac nearly panics at the thought of speaking before he’s asked to, but Mr. Bozer simply holds up a hand.

“I don’t want explanations. Who did it?”

“I did, sir,” Mac answers at the same time Boze says, “It was me!”

Mr. Bozer’s eyebrows furrow. “Well, which one is it?”

“It was me, sir. Wilt’s just trying to cover for me,” Mac admits.

Mr. Bozer nods. “You boys are grounded for a week and I expect you to clean this up. You’re also getting some community service for this mess since you don’t have the money to repair it yourselves.”

None of it makes sense. Mr. Bozer isn’t yelling and he hasn’t hit either of them. Something’s going to happen. Something bad. Mac can feel the way his hands tremble and he puts them behind his back so no one can see. 

Dad doesn’t like it when Mac shows fear. He thinks it’s a sign of weakness and immaturity. Obviously Dad isn’t going to really hurt him for something like this. It’s a window and yeah that’s bad but it’ll just be another lesson. Mac gets lessons all the time. 

He feels the tears on his cheeks and quickly he brings a hand up to wipe away the evidence, but he knows it’s probably too late already. Dad’s keen like that and will have noticed that Mac’s being a baby again. His stomach turns and Mac swallows hard to avoid throwing up because Dad will just get madder if he does that.

“Hey, look at me, Mac.”

Mac blinks and focuses on the person in front of him. It’s Mr. Bozer and he’s knelt down on the ground in front of him, his hands on Mac’s shoulders. Somehow that’s worse than it being Dad. If Mr. Bozer doesn’t want him either then there’s definitely something wrong with him. 

“Mac, talk to me,” Mr. Bozer says softly. 

Mac’s going to shake apart but he _can’t _because why would they want to keep him if he just freaks out all the time?__

__“Son, I need you to take some deep breaths. Can you do that for me?”_ _

__Mac nods because he can do whatever they ask of him. He has to. Bit by bit, Mac makes his breaths deeper and as a result slower. He can’t stop crying for some reason, but so far Mr. Bozer hasn’t seemed to care so Mac focuses on what he _does > seem concerned about. __ _

___“There’s a good boy. You’re okay. Now can you tell me what’s going on?”_ _ _

___“Please don’t make Maggie take me somewhere else,” Mac blurts out. It’s the exact opposite of what he means to say. He means to say he’s sorry, that he’ll mow lawns until he makes enough money to fix it, that he’ll never do it again, and that he’ll be more responsible and just stick to schoolwork after this._ _ _

___But instead of Mr. Bozer reprimanding him for his emotional outburst, Mac finds himself folded into a hug and then scooped off the ground altogether. “Oh, son. That’s never going to happen. It’s just a window. I broke more shit as a kid than you’ll ever break.”_ _ _

___Mac clings to Mr. Bozer because he can’t not, but none of this makes sense. Dad didn’t want him when once he broke his leg so why would the Bozers want Mac after he’s broken their window too?_ _ _

___He finds himself carried back inside and sees Boze sitting on the sofa looking concerned. Mrs. Bozer hops up the moment the door opens and hurries to them._ _ _

___“Baby, what’d you say to get him like this?” Mrs. Bozer accuses._ _ _

___Mac can feel Mr. Bozer shake his head. “I don’t know. All he said is that he doesn’t want me to call Maggie and have them take him away.”_ _ _

___“Oh, sweet baby, no!!” Mrs. Bozer yelps. Mac feels her hands slip around his sides as she takes him from Mr. Bozer and he lets go of Mr. Bozer to allow her._ _ _

___She hugs Mac tight against her, his hand cupping the back of his neck. “Baby we would never, not in a million years, give you away like that. I’m so sorry your daddy made you think that that’s how parents act, but real parents never ever give their kids away like that.”_ _ _

___They sit on the sofa together, Mac comfortably wedged between the two adults, until he stops crying._ _ _

___“I don’t understand why you’re not mad,” Mac finally says._ _ _

___Mr. Bozer laughs. “Oh, you’re still grounded. But that’s a reasonable punishment that fits the crime. I’m normal mad, not whatever it was that James would have been.”_ _ _

___Mac nods though he’s not sure he really understands what that means, but it’s okay because he’ll gladly take whatever punishment they deem fit if it means he gets to stay._ _ _

___“Thank you,” he murmurs, and he finds himself squished in a hug from both sides. It’s a confusing thing, but it’s good, and Mac finds that he doesn’t care if he understands so long as this never changes._ _ _


End file.
